Youth gets $5, candy, gum - and prison

WEST CHESTER – A Coatesville teenager with a history of violence was sentenced Wednesday to serve almost two years in Chester County Prison for an armed robbery of a school acquaintance that netted him $5, some candy and some gum.

Tyrone Blackwell, 17, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and conspiracy for an incident in which he reportedly put a gun to a 16-year-old’s neck and told him, “run your pockets or I’m gonna kill you.” The youth, who was walking along Foundry Street near 11th Street on his way to the Coatesville Are School District campus in Caln, had only a $5 bill and the candy.

Blackwell, who was 16 at the time of the robbery and charged as an adult, was sentenced to 11˝ to 23 months in prison for the robbery. As part of the plea agreement negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Mark Conte and Blackwell’s attorney, Assistant District Attorney Stewart Paintin, Blackwell must serve the full 23 months and will not be eligible for parole or early release.

President Judge James P. MacElree II, who accepted the plea and imposed the sentenced, noted the agreement would allow Blackwell to serve almost two years in jail without having to do time in a state prison.

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Previously, MacElree had denied Blackwell’s request that his case be transferred to Juvenile Court. He noted that evidence showed Blackwell had a history of violent crime, including assaulting a Delaware County police officer, and that he had used a gun and made threats to the victim in the robbery.

Blackwell, in an interview with a psychologist hired by his attorney, said he had a history of getting in fights in school, and admitted that he used alcohol and marijuana regularly.

The robbery occurred about 8 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2011. The 16-year-old victim said he noticed Blackwell and another teenager he knew standing on the corner of Foundry Street and 11th Avenue in Caln when he was walking to the school campus, and that they crossed the street to confront him, according to an arrest affidavit prepared by Caln Detective James Lippolis.

The youth, whose name is being withheld, said that Blackwell and the other teenager, whom he identified as Armere Naylor, robbed him, and that they were accompanied by three others who he did not recognize. He said he had known Blackwell for about a month, and that Blackwell was not wearing any face covering during the robbery. He reported the matter to Coatesville police after Blackwell was arrested on another matter.

Naylor, who was 15 at the time, is awaiting trial before MacElree on the robbery charges.

Blackwell declined to make any statement to the court prior to his sentencing. He has been held at the county prison since his arrest in December 2011 and will be eligible for parole in November.